


all we wanted was everything

by Lint



Series: My Serpentine [6]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Serpent Cheryl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 15:25:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15643557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lint/pseuds/Lint
Summary: “I thought you were grooming me,” she finally says. “To take over. I thought you wanted me to.”





	all we wanted was everything

 

The headlight beam slashes across darkened asphalt, engine growling underneath her that turns to a roar when she pulls back on the throttle, as the tightly twined braid of crimson locks whips behind her head from the acceleration.

 

She loves this sensation.

 

A freedom she once feared, felt in the sharp sting of midnight air against her cheeks, and somehow she keeps herself from howling at the moon. Toni is hot on her heels, though Cheryl suspects the distance kept by her lady fair, is one with purpose.

 

Not that they're racing, exactly.

 

But it seems to be a running tally, ever since Cheryl finally learned to ride, that some kind of healthy competition in their runs help her improve in any way she can. The road winds tighter as they head up the side of the mountain, Toni swaying two and fro behind, revving her engine to reveal her position. When they reach the plateau, both girls slow to a stop, and lean the bikes next to each other.

 

“You let me win,” Cheryl accuses, as she removes her helmet.

 

“Confidence builder,” Toni deflects with an easy grin.

 

Cheryl shakes her head.

 

“Since when has confidence ever been an issue for me?”

 

Toni's grin turns into a playful smile.

 

“Since you dropped my bike during lesson one, and refused to get near it again, until I bribed you with half a gallon of strawberry ice cream.”

 

Cheryl actually laughs.

 

“You and I recall these events very differently.”

 

Toni pulls the blanket from her saddlebag and lays it on the grass.

 

“I know,” she replies. “My memory tends to be accurate, while yours borders on delusional.”

 

Cheryl gasps in mock horror, folding her arms, but approaches the blanket anyway.

 

“Oh my dear, dear heart. You wound me so.”

 

Toni plops down first, leaning back on her elbows, with ankles crossed.

 

“Picked a good night to come up here, babe.” she comments, head tilting toward the star filled sky.

 

Cheryl follows her gaze, momentarily forgetting the ulterior motive she had for a nighttime romp at their secret spot. Namely the envelope from Boston University hidden away in her sock drawer. The one too thick to be a rejection letter. Her name, preceded by Welcome!, all she had the stomach to read. The reality of it still resonates, however. She got in. She's getting out of this town. At least for the four year stretch an extended education warrants. She wants to talk about it with Toni so badly, but is afraid to, when her paramour is left waiting to hear from the two different art schools she applied to. It would feel like bragging.

 

These thoughts lead to a lengthy pause in conversation, when Toni shifts up to lean her head against Cheryl's shoulder.

 

“A beautiful night like this,” whispered into her girlfriend's ear. “And you have have yet to kiss me.”

 

She complies without hesitation, hand lifting to Toni's cheek, as the kiss deepens and they both fall back against the blanket. Cheryl keeps her eyes on the stars, while Toni begins a trail of kisses against her jaw then down to her neck, and quickly loses sight of them once a hand slips between her legs.

 

-

 

Cheryl slips through Betty's window as quietly as she can. It being more easily accessible than the one in her own room, with its proximity above the porch, and an easy climb up. Her cousin doesn't stir with the entrance, only groaning when Cheryl sheds her jacket and boots, and joins her in the bed.

 

“Why do you keep sneaking back in?” Betty mumbles against her pillow. “Like being out until three in the morning is something Mom or FP are actually concerned with?”

 

Cheryl presses against Betty's back, arms slipping around the slumbering girl, who instantly recoils at the contact.

 

“You are freezing,” she admonishes, then squeals when Cheryl presses her nose into Betty's neck.

 

“Teenage rebellion,” comes Cheryl's reply. “Have to find it where I can.”

 

Betty chuckles softly.

 

“Can't break a rule that doesn't exist.”

 

They're quiet a moment.

 

“I used to sneak out of Thornhill all the time,” Cheryl confesses. “With a rope ladder Jason made for me.”

 

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair?”

 

Cheryl laughs.

 

“Something like that.”

 

Quiet again.

 

“Is any of that true?” Betty asks.

 

“Not a word.”

 

Betty puts a hand over Cheryl's.

 

“Did you tell Toni? About BU?”

 

Cheryl shakes her head, knowing the answer is felt through contact.

 

“Why not?”

 

“She still hasn't heard from Suffolk, or the College of the Arts. I didn't want to-”

 

“No, I get it.”

 

Cheryl gives her a small squeeze.

 

“What about you and Veronica?” she asks. “Everything still lined up for New York?”

 

“Yeah...”

 

Cheryl's brow furrows.

 

“But?”

 

“There has been a slight change of plans.”

 

“How slight?”

 

“NYU is out.”

 

“What?

 

“I kind of... Got into Columbia instead.”

 

Cheryl gasps.

 

“Betts, that's wonderful.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Cheryl thinks a moment.

 

“Did Veronica-”

 

“Pull some strings?” Betty finishes. “She says she didn't, but I wouldn't be surprised.”

 

Cheryl sighs.

 

“You're a lucky girl.”

 

“Aren't I?”

 

Quiet once more.

 

“I'm going to marry her,” Betty states softly.

 

Cheryl's eyes go wide.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Not today,” Betty dismisses. “And probably not tomorrow or the next. But I want to. I will. She's... She's kind of it for me, you know?”

 

Cheryl automatically thinks of Toni.

 

“I think I do,” she answers. “I guess congratulations are in order?”

 

“Mmm,” Betty hums. “Know how we should celebrate?”

 

“How?”

 

“By going to sleep.”

 

Cheryl groans dramatically.

 

“Fine.”

 

/\

 

Saturday night at the Wyrm.

 

Toni is behind the bar so Cheryl hangs around the pool table, watching on in amusement as Veronica puts on a clinic to a shocked and frustrated Betty, who cannot believe the fact that her girl is a shark. Hard to believe in the entire time they've been dating, hanging out at this particular bar, the subject has never come up nor been put into practice.

 

Betty growls in frustration when Veronica sinks another ball, and Cheryl purposely take a long drink of her cocktail, so as to not laugh directly in her cousin's face. Veronica notices, shooting her a playful wink, before tapping the corner pocket with her cue and making the shot.

 

“Hey Bombshell,” FP greets at her side.

 

Cheryl swallows her drink with a grimace, letting the cup drop to her side.

 

“Fearless leader,” she replies in kind.

 

He grins at the title, nodding to Betty and Veronica, before focusing back to Cheryl.

 

“Got a minute?” he asks.

 

She swirls the ice around the glass.

 

“This about the Seaside job?” she asks. “Because I-”

 

“No, no,” he interrupts. “Not business.”

 

He nods his head to the door.

 

“Come on,” he offers, then moves toward it.

 

Cheryl shoots a glance to Betty, who only shrugs having no idea what FP could want, and she sets her glass on the edge of the pool table before following. He's leaning against the banister when Cheryl exits, a bottle of beer resting against his leg.

 

“FP?” she asks after an awkward pause of them just looking at each other.

 

“You're leaving soon,” he states, lifting the bottle for a quick drink.

 

“Three weeks,” Cheryl confirms. “But who's counting?”

 

The statement pulls a smirk out of him, but he doesn't respond, spinning the bottle around on his leg.

 

“Are we just going to stare at each other?” Cheryl asks. “Because it's starting to feel a bit awkward now.”

 

He chuckles softly.

 

“I just wanted to say,” he begins enigmatically. “That I wouldn't be mad.”

 

Cheryl blinks at him.

 

“Am I supposed to guess what you wouldn't be mad about?”

 

Still spinning that bottle.

 

“If you didn't come back.”

 

Cheryl's chest suddenly tightens, wanting desperately to know just what he means by that. As if going away to college, a well earned escape from a town that has been a setting to so much pain in her life, automatically equals desertion of the Serpents. Even if Betty is going the same route. Toni too.

 

“Just what are you implying?” she asks, unable to keep the edge from her tone. “That furthering my education means I would abandon all of you for greener pastures? That my life here means so little to me, I'd ride off into the sunset and never look back?”

 

FP sighs loudly.

 

“Not what I meant,” he retracts. “But I know this town has done nothing but kick you in the teeth these last few years, and I'll I'm saying is, if the life you find out there treats you better than the one here I would understand.”

 

Cheryl doesn't understand. At all.

 

“I thought,” she starts, insides churning with embarrassment, looking away. “I thought-”

 

FP just watches her.

 

“I thought you were grooming me,” she finally says. “To take over. I thought you wanted me to.”

 

FP pushes off the banister, boots clomping loudly on the wooden planks, before putting a hand on her shoulder.

 

“I do want that,” he assures, that hand squeezing gently. “You've taken to this way of life like a natural. And you're one of the smartest damn thieves I've ever known. But I'm trying to say it's alright, if later you realize it's not what _you_ want.”

 

Tears sting at Cheryl's eyes, and she turns her head away from him.

 

“I never did right by my firstborns,” he goes on. “Drove them both away. But I'll be damned if I wasn't going to do better with you and Betty.”

 

Cheryl sniffs, but quickly wipes away any tears with the back of her hand.

 

“Did you give this rather confusing Dad speech to her too?”

 

FP clucks his tongue.

 

“I might have.”

 

“And how did she react?”

 

He laughs.

 

“Socked me in the arm pretty good and told me to stop being stupid. She's like her mother that way.”

 

Cheryl laughs too.

 

“I'm not going to hit you,” she assures, instead letting her arms wrap around his waist, and pressing her head against his chest. FP hesitates only a moment, before returning the hug, and offering the slightest of pats upon her head.

 

/\

 

There are always outlying aspects of a job that can never be factored into the plan. Weather. Power outages. Traffic accidents.

 

The latter has Cheryl and Toni stuck behind on an overturned big rig for nearly three hours, eyeing the emergency crew warily while the boys hide in the back of the truck with a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of stolen goods, on the only highway between Seaside and Riverdale.

 

Lucky for them the warehouse they'd pilfered doesn't open for another hour or so, the theft will likely not get discovered for a stretch of time past that, and even more can be allotted for calling the police and filing a report. Really, Cheryl is not worried about being caught on the road just yet, but there is a bit of unfortunate circumstance that they also have a high school graduation to get back to.

 

Toni taps her fingers on the steering wheel, watching the crane finally lift the trailer off the road, while Cheryl checks and rechecks the time on her phone.

 

“Relax,” Toni offers gently, trying to ease the tension in the cab. “We'll make it.”

 

Cheryl turns to her curiously.

 

“You think with the chance of ruining my perfect record, on top of B&E charges coupled with grand larceny, I'm sitting here worried about making some silly ceremony?”

 

Toni smirks at her.

 

“I know you're worried about some silly ceremony,” she teases. “Because I know we're clear of getting run down by the cops for another few hours. And I know that, because my girlfriend is the most meticulous planner I've ever seen, but not even she can foresee CW McCall jackknifing his rig in the middle of the night.”

 

Cheryl actually laughs, some of the stress in her shoulders finally easing.

 

“You know,” Toni goes on. “If we were still at Southside, there wouldn't even be a ceremony.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“With a graduation rate as low as theirs, they never bothered. Anyone who actually put in the work to get through high school, just got their diploma mailed to them.”

 

Cheryl checks the time again.

 

“Sweetie,” Toni admonishes, putting her hand over the phone. “We'll make it.”

 

-

 

They do make it.

 

Barely.

 

Roaring up to the football field on their motorcycles, the entire audience turning to look at them with judgmental glares, while every teenage Serpent quickly throws on their robes and hats then rushes to their seats. Everyone in the gang is sure to scream at the top of their lungs, whenever one of their names is called, knowing no one else is going to cheer for them.

 

Cheryl tells herself she no longer cares about the pomp and circumstance. Of attention relished on her, and envy left if her wake. But the fact that every single Serpent who transferred to this school, despite no one wanting them there and several attempts to get them expelled, graduated feels like the biggest middle finger they could have given to the Northside. (Betty even has an honors sash to wear across her robe.)

 

There are speeches made about lessons learned, and futures so bright, but Cheryl pays them no mind. She's learned lessons no one in this student body could ever understand. Earned a future through her own grit and cunning. Gained a family that, for once in her life, chooses her in return. Found a love she never could have imagined.

 

“The future is ours!” says the Valedictorian in a predictable declaration.

 

Cheryl looks to Toni, to Betty, Fangs and Sweet Pea.

 

Yes, she thinks. All yours until we slip in and snatch it from under you.

 

/\

 

“You take care of her,” Cheryl warns.

 

It's unnecessary, though she still feels the need to say it. If there's one person in the world she trusts with Cousin Betty, it's Veronica Lodge. The car is packed and waiting in the driveway. Everything Betty thinks she'll need at Columbia. Of course Veronica hired movers for the rest of it. Living off campus in some deluxe apartment in the sky.

 

Cheryl went a more modest route for her accommodations. The inheritance dropped into her bank account significantly less than that of her Park Avenue cohort, but plenty comfortable for she and Toni (her acceptance letter for Suffolk having spent over a month lost between two shelves down at the post office) to settle into Boston together. For which they depart tomorrow.

 

Betty approaches her looking oddly shy, and Cheryl is struck with the memory of a seven year old girl running wildly through Thornhill's cemetery, her ponytail bobbing behind her while she herself refused to be chased among the headstones like some commoner.

 

They've always been cousins, but only in the last few years have they really become friends. Have finally felt like family.

 

“So,” Betty begins. “I guess this is it for awhile.”

 

At least until Christmas, Cheryl assumes.

 

“Yes,” she agrees. “I suppose it is.”

 

They stand there awkwardly, each waiting for the other to crack in this unintentional game of emotional chicken. Cheryl sees a tear shimmering along Betty's eyelid, and realizes she too has a few of her own threatening to fall. Finally they both laugh, falling into a hug, and clinging to each other.

 

“I'm really gonna miss you,” Betty admits quietly.

 

“Why wouldn't you?” Cheryl replies. “I'm a delight.”

 

Betty laughs brokenly against her.

 

“Worry not dear cousin,” she goes on. “There's this amazing app called Facetime where we can see and talk to each other all we want.”

 

“Yeah,” Betty agrees. “But it won't be the same.”

 

The tears in Cheryl's eyes fall at the statement.

 

“It certainly won't.”

 

They are quiet for awhile, the hug lingering far longer than each girl would have anticipated, but neither feeling the need to break it just yet.

 

“You know,” Cheryl begins softly. “I've never had a sister, but-”

 

“I have,” Betty cuts her off. “It feels exactly like this.”

 

/\

 

“I think,” Toni comments, watching as Cheryl approaches the gate. “Bringing me to the remains of your burned down mansion, might not have been the best way to end the Cheryl Blossom says goodbye to Riverdale tour.”

 

Cheryl glares back at her.

 

“Don't make fun,” she admonishes. “As much as I would have loved to leave town without ever seeing it again, I think it would have felt wrong not to bid Thornill farewell.”

 

Toni is confused by the statement. Not understanding why you would still want to see a place you've hated your entire life one last time. Something she states and immediately regrets at Cheryl's crestfallen face.

 

“Jason in buried here,” she answers quietly. “And I couldn't leave without... I just couldn't.”

 

Toni jumps off her bike, walking quickly toward her girl, and slipping her arms around her from behind.

 

“I'm an idiot,” she mutters into Cheryl's leather adorned shoulder.

 

Cheryl covers one of Toni's hands with her own.

 

“My idiot.”

 

For a moment they simply stand there.

 

“He would have liked you,” Cheryl states, and smiles at the kiss on the cheek it earns her.

 

-

 

They ride in tandem along the river, shooting out in front of each other then braking to fall behind, revving their engines and laughing with glee. Cheryl once again basks in the thrill of power and speed, despite a mild lingering of trepidation, that she's never ridden so far as the trip will take them.

 

Any moment now, they're going to cross the town limit, and for the first time in her life she'll be free of this place. When the sign comes into view however, she feels the smallest ping inside her chest. Relief, that she can leave every terrible thing that's ever happened to her behind. Regret, that her other half won't be there to see it. Hope, that the weight of her name can finally fall from her shoulders and she can truly begin anew.

 

_Now Leaving Riverdale, we hope to see you soon!_

 

Cheryl shoots a glance over to Toni, who smiles in return, as she bears down on the throttle and roars out of town without looking back.

 

 


End file.
